Elden Ring Nightreign Wylder build, tips, and best weapons

Wylder might be the "default" character and poster child of Elden Ring Nightreign, but that doesn't mean he's any less effective than the other Nightfarers. It's not immediately clear what you should specialise in with this agile but strength-based fighter though. After spending countless hours with Nightreign's lost swordsman, I've learned some handy tricks to make the best Wylder build shine.

Almost everything is randomised in Nightreign, from the gear you find on runs to the ives each one has, and even events like best Nightreign rune farming spots. Below you'll find my best build for Wylder, but also tips and tricks to eke out every advantage.

Elden Ring Nightreign Wylder build

Character builds in Elden Ring Nightreign focus on four things: Relics, weapons (and their ives), talismans, and ive buffs from bosses. While the latter three are found during an expedition, you'll pick your relics before heading out, so it's a good idea to know what works and what doesn't for your character.

Wylder is a great all-rounder character, with relatively high default health and stamina, and a penchant for heavy-hitting strength weapons. Anything that further improves survivability or his preferred weapon, a greatsword, is a good start. Wylder also has a very strong ultimate, and great utility from his grappling hook skill, so ability-based buffs are also worth considering on relics and ives (whether on weapons or from boss rewards).

Elden Ring Nightreign Wylder best relics

Like other characters, Wylder has several unique relic affixes that can appear on relics, marked with [Wylder] before the skill description. These are almost always the best relics for them, especially the unique effect which adds a powerful follow-up attack to his skill when using a greatsword, his preferred weapon type.

I'd recommend the following buffs for Wylder:

• [Wylder] Follow-up attacks possible when using character skill (greatsword only)
• [Wylder] Create a lingering area of fire damage after using ultimate art
• [Wylder] One additional Claw Shot use
• Ultimate Art Gauge +
• Defeating enemies fills more of the Art gauge
• Increased greatsword attack power
• Increased maximum HP
• Strength/vigor/endurance + (increases greatsword damage via scaling, health, and stamina respectively)
• Starting armament inflicts X (if you can match a Nightlord's weakness)
• X attack power up (match the above weakness, or use fire to match the follow-up attack from the unique affix above)
• Improved X resistance (match the Nightlord's damage type)
• X damage negation up (match the above damage type)
• Increased rune acquisition for self and allies
• Items confer effect to all nearby allies
• HP restored when using cured meats, medicinal boluses, etc. (this one also stacks with the above, letting you heal allies when you consume these)

Elden Ring Nightreign Wylder best weapons and ives

Wylder's preferred weapon type is a greatsword, and they're easy enough to come by given how many there are. While he leans towards strength-based weapons, he's not bad with dexterity ones either, meaning you can use just about anything if you'd like. You can also use a shield in your off-hand, though once you've got the hang of dodging and his hook, two-handing a greatsword is the way to go.

Purple-quality weapons like Death's Poker (which deals Frostbite) and Sword of Milos (Bleed damage) are great picks, especially once you know how to legendary weapons in Nightreign that work well with Wylder (unlike the incredible Ironeye build since there's no unique dexterity bows), such as the Blasphemous Blade, Golden Order Greatsword, and the Sacred Relic Greatsword.

Here are the best weapon ives for Wylder:

• Improved charged attacks
• Improved jump attacks
• Improved chain attack finishers
• Improved X attack power (match the Nightlord's weakness)
• Improved attack power when two-handing
• HP restoration on attacks
• Improved damage negation at full HP
• Successive attacks negate damage
• Successive attacks improve attack power
• Improved X damage negation (match the Nightlord's attack affinity if known)
• Add X to weapon (if you don't have the Nightlord's weakness covered)
• FP restoration on attacks (less important but useful if you want to use weapon skill)

Elden Ring Nightreign Wylder best talismans

The other main gear type you'll find during expeditions, talismans, are earned from killing the shimmering scarabs (they're dung beetles), or occasionally from power-up drops, such as the one that seemingly always spawns in the gateway in the central castle.

The best talismans for Wydler are:

1. Erdtree's Favor: Raises maximum HP and stamina
2. Viridian Amber Medallion: Improved stamina
3. Twinblade Talisman: Improved chain attack finishers
4. Bull-Goat's Talisman: Improved poise
5. Ritual Sword Talisman: Improves attack power at full HP
6. Ritual Shield Talisman: Improved damage negation at full HP
7. Godskin Swaddling Cloth: Successive attacks HP restoration
8. Winged Sword Insignia: Successive attacks boost attack power
9. Green Turtle Talisman: Increased maximum recovery
10. Crimson Seed Talisman: Improved flask HP restoration

Elden Ring Nightreign Wylder tips

Wylder is a fairly beginner-friendly character thanks to their high health and stamina, and a wide pool of weapons to pick from (which can make the RNG slightly less cruel). With that said, there are some things you should know:

1. Use Claw Shot to engage

Wylder's Claw Shot skill is a grappling hook that pulls weaker enemies to you, and you towards bigger, heavier enemies like bosses. Nightreign's bosses are generally incredibly mobile, which typically makes melee a hard playstyle. Wylder can get around this by using his grappling hook to close the gap. I've found it works best to run away from bosses' AoE attacks on foot, but use Claw Shot to get back into melee range rather than the other way around. This saves stamina and lets you trigger the follow-up attack from his unique relic.

Claw Shot is also considered sprinting, so it's very easy to pull off running attacks or, even better, jump attacks (which deal extra stagger damage) while reeling yourself in. Pair this with ive effects on weapons, and you can turn this mobility skill into a weapon.

2. Charge Onslaught Stake

When you view the skill descriptions in the character selection screen, you won't know that you can actually charge or hold certain attacks to improve them (or even change what they do in certain situations). This applies to Wylder's ultimate, Onslaught Stake, which can be charged to increase its damage by holding the button. It's a heavy-hitting ultimate, so why not make the most of it?

3. Time your ultimate with your allies

Onslaught Stake is an incredible ultimate, but it can be even better if you have an Ironeye and/or Duchess on your team. If you're playing with friends, you could even kindly ask them to swap to power you up in one of the best Elden Ring Nightreign team compositions.

Keep an eye out for enemies with a slightly wonky cross on them—these are enemies that have been marked by Ironeye, causing them to take increased damage. Typically, an Ironeye's job is to ensure the boss is constantly marked, but if it's not active, it's generally worth waiting until the enemy is marked before unleashing your fully-charged ultimate. Otherwise, you're just missing out on free damage.

Likewise, Duchess can use her Restage skill to cause enemies to take damage for a second time. It's hard to predict if you're playing with random players since you can't see their ability cooldowns, but you'll benefit greatly from having her follow up on your ultimate by Restaging it, effectively triggering it twice. The best news is that this works in tandem with Ironeye, turning your explosive skewer into a nuclear blast.

4. Learn to dodge or counter with a shield

Since you'll be in melee range most of the time, you need to learn to stay alive. The best way to do this is to master dodging, especially against bosses. Dodges give you a brief window of invincibility (which can be improved with ives), so time it right to avoid damage. You can also use a shield to guard counter for additional damage and stagger, though this means you can't two-hand your greatsword, which deals bonus damage.